Southern Illinois (also known as "Little Egypt" or "Egypt") is the southern third of the state of Illinois. With the area code 618, the southern part of Illinois is geographically, culturally, and economically distinct from the rest of the state. It is considered a part of downstate Illinois. The region is bordered on three of four sides by the most voluminous rivers in the United States: the Wabash and Ohio rivers to the east and south, and the Mississippi River and its connecting Missouri River to the west.

The area has a population of 1.2 million people,[1] who live mostly in rural towns and cities separated by extensive farmland and the Shawnee National Forest. The two most dense areas of population are Metro-East, which is the partly industrialized Illinois portion of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area and the Carbondale-Marion-Herrin, Illinois Combined Statistical Area, centered on Carbondale and Marion, a two-county area that is home to 123,272 residents.

The first settlers migrated from the Upland South, traveling by the Ohio River, and the region was affiliated with the southern agricultural economy and rural culture. Some settlers even owned slaves before the territory was organized and it was prohibited. Many areas developed an economy based on coal mining. Except for the counties in the St. Louis MSA, much of Southern Illinois is still culturally affiliated with the Mid-South: western Kentucky, southwestern Indiana, West Tennessee, and the Missouri Bootheel, and the people speak with similar accents. Southern Illinois, the earliest settled and once the wealthiest part of Illinois, is known for its rich history and the abundance of antebellum architecture remaining in its small towns and cities.

Southern Illinois is slowly gaining a cultural identity apart from its neighbors. Formerly dispersed rural populations have become more concentrated in the cities of Carbondale and Belleville.

St. Louis, Missouri is the largest anchor city. Although not within the state, it dominates its metro area.

The earliest inhabitants of Illinois are thought to have arrived about 12,000 BC. They were hunter-gatherers, but also developed a primitive system of agriculture. After AD 1000, agricultural surpluses enabled them to develop complex, hierarchical societies. With the rise of the Mississippian culture in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys, tribal leaders organized thousands to build complex urban areas with numerous large earthworks - pyramidal, ridgetop and conical mounds used for religious, political and ceremonial purposes. Cahokia, located in present-day Collinsville, Illinois, was the major regional center of this culture. It contains the largest prehistoric earthworks in the Americas, and has been designated a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site. The mound builders' culture seems to have collapsed between AD 1400-1500. The Mississippians had abandoned Cahokia long before the first European explorers arrived.[2]

The Illinois Indian tribes, for whom the state is named, and other tribes migrated to Southern Illinois around AD 1500. Archeologists say they were not descendants of the earlier inhabitants. The Illini left numerous artifacts, including burial sites, burned-out campfires along the bases of bluffs, pottery, flint implements, and weapons. Structures built by them include stone forts or "pounds". Visitors can see a stone fort in Giant City State Park near Makanda. At least eight other such structures are known in the region.[2]

In about 1673, French explorers from Quebec became the first Europeans to reach Illinois. The French named the area Illinois after the Indians who had welcomed them. The French explored the Mississippi River, establishing outposts and seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean and the Far East. As increasing Indian unrest and warfare began in Northern Illinois over the lucrative fur trade along the Great Lakes, the French concentrated on building outposts in Southern Illinois. The earliest European settlers were concentrated along the Mississippi, Ohio, and Wabash rivers, which provided easy routes for travel and trade. The settlements became important way stations and supply depots between Canada and the French ports on the lower Mississippi River. Other important early outposts in Southern Illinois were at Old Shawneetown and Fort Massac on the Ohio River.[2]

After defeating the French in the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) and signing the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the English ruled the Lower Great Lakes region. Their rule of this area was short lived. At the time, many French settlers moved from towns on the eastern side of the Mississippi to the western side, which was ruled by Spain after the war. It took over all the Louisiana Territory west of the river.[2]

In 1787, the federal government included Illinois in the Northwest Territory, an unorganized area that included present-day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Slavery was prohibited in this area, but for some time, slaveholders already in the area were allowed to keep their chattel property. As the areas became more populated with European Americans, they could be admitted as states to the Union. Illinois became a part of the Indiana Territory in 1800. Illinois settlers wanted more control over their own affairs and Illinois became a separate territory in 1809. It was admitted as a free state in 1818. In late 1811 and early 1812, the New Madrid earthquakes struck the region as one of the largest successions of earthquakes, including the most intensive ever indirectly inferred (not recorded) in the contiguous United States.[2]

The first bank to be chartered in Illinois was located at Old Shawneetown in 1816. The first building used solely to house a bank in Illinois was built in 1840 in Old Shawneetown and was used until the 1920s. The Old Shawneetown State Bank has been restored as an historical site. Crops of cotton and tobacco were grown in the extreme southern region of Illinois. Cotton was grown mostly for the home weaver, but during the Civil War, cotton was also grown for export, as the regular supply of cotton from the South was not available. Enough tobacco was grown to make it a profitable crop for export. Both crops have been succeeded by other agricultural commodities.[2]

A feud between families in Williamson County, called the Bloody Vendetta, lasted nearly ten years and took many lives. In all, 495 assaults with a deadly weapon were committed and 285 murders took place in Williamson County between 1839 and 1876. This was very unusual, as crime was almost non-existent in Illinois during its frontier years prior to this period of lawlessness.[2]

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln ran for the U.S. Senate against Stephen A. Douglas. A debate was held in seven towns in Illinois, one being near Jonesboro. Many of the people living in Southern Illinois were first or second-generation Southerners. Cairo, Illinois, at the southern tip where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi, was of strategic importance. On either side of the rivers were states which, despite remaining in the Union, had numerous residents who were sympathetic to the South. Some leaders in this area had been active in the Knights of the Golden Circle, which proposed a southern pan-Caribbean confederation based on slave states and nations.

The outbreak of the American Civil War drew from the mixed loyalties in this region, and some residents enlisted in the Confederate Army. In June 1861, 34 men from the Southern Illinois counties of Williamson and Jackson traveled to western Tennessee and became part of Company G of the 15th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, according to "Illinois Rebels - A Civil War Unit History of G Company, 15th Tennessee Regiment Volunteer Infantry" by Ed Gleeson (1996, Guild Press of Indiana, 435 Gradle Drive, Carmel, Indiana 46032). The Union Army also used Cairo as a staging area for its expeditions into the border states of Missouri and Kentucky, and also the Confederate states of Tennessee and Mississippi.

Coal mining became an important industry in Southern Illinois around the start of the 20th century, with cities such as Harrisburg prospering, having a population of 16,000 people during the 1920s.[3] Union miners all over the nation went on strike in 1922; during this period, 20 men were killed during a riot in Herrin, in Williamson County. It was called the Herrin Massacre, and the county was known as Bloody Williamson for years to come.[2]

The Shelton Brothers Gang and Charles Birger gangs operated in Southern Illinois in the 1920s during Prohibition. Shoot-outs between these and other rival gangsters and with law enforcement officers were common. After being convicted of ordering the murder of the mayor of West City, the leader of the Birger gang, Charlie Birger, was hanged in 1928. In 1925 the Tri-State Tornado was the deadliest on record, devastating the city of Murphysboro and killing 234 people, the most in a single city in U.S. history.[2]

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s caused coal miners to lose their jobs as most mines closed. Farmers could not sell their crops and lost their land; families defaulted on home mortgage loans; and young people from the region began leaving for the cities to find work. After World War II, employment started to rise within the region, but unemployment continued to be a problem for the rural region for decades afterward.[2] When the Clean Air Act of 1990 required many utility companies in the United States to switch to low-sulfur coal for the health of the nation, lacking affordable technology to clean the coal, the Southern Illinois region lost markets and the economy suffered.[4] Agriculture has since become the main economic driver for the Southern Illinois region.

Southern Illinois is slowly gaining a cultural identity apart from its neighbors, as previously-dispersed rural populations become more concentrated around the cities of Marion and Belleville. Marion has grown tremendously since 1970 and in the process has been selected for Illinois' first STAR Bonds District for the Millennium Development, a project originally designed for a city ten times its size.[5]

Population among the smaller cities and towns have dropped significantly as people moved to the Carbondale-Herrin-Marion combined statistical area and Metro East.[6]

The nickname "Egypt" may have arisen in the 1830s, when poor harvests in the north of the state drove people to Southern Illinois to buy grain. Others say it was because the land of the great Mississippi and Ohio River valleys were like that of Egypt's Nile delta. According to Hubbs,[citation needed] the nickname may date back to 1818, when a huge tract of land was purchased at the confluence of the rivers and its developers named it Cairo/ˈkɛəroʊ/. Today, the town of Cairo still stands on the peninsula where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi.

Although Illinois was a free state prior to the American Civil War, in Egypt some residents still owned slaves. Illinois law generally forbade bringing slaves into Illinois, but a special exemption was given to the salt works near Equality. In addition, an exception was made for slaveholders who held long-term indentured servants or descendants of slaves in the area before it achieved statehood.[citation needed]

The nicknames for this region also arose from the political tensions prior to and during the American Civil War, as regions of the state allied differently with North and South. Because southern Illinois was settled by southerners, they maintained a sympathy for many issues of their former states. They supported the continuation of slavery. They voted for Democrats, at a time when the northern part of the state supported Republicans. The meaning is expressed in this description of the 1858 campaign of Douglas and Abraham Lincoln:

"In 1858, debating in northern Illinois, Douglas had threatened Lincoln by asserting that he would 'trot him down to Egypt' and there challenge him to repeat his antislavery views before a hostile crowd. The audience understood Douglas: overwhelming proslavery sentiment and Democratic unanimity in Egypt had led to the nickname."[7]

In the fall of 1861, Democrats took a majority of seats in the state legislature. They worked to pass provisions of a new constitution, an initiative begun in 1860. They proposed reapportionment so the southern region's less populous counties would have representation equal to those in the north, which was growing more rapidly. Northern Illinois residents worried about the state coming under the political will of the southern minority. "Shall the manufacturing, agricultural and commercial interests of northern Illinois be put into Egyptian bondage?" wondered the Aurora Beacon."[8] When Lincoln commissioned the Southern Illinois Democrat, John Alexander McClernand, as a brigadier general, he told him to "keep Egypt right side up".[9]

In addition, southern Illinois had become the center of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret group devoted to supporting the Confederacy. With concern rising about armed southern sympathizers, in August 1862, U.S. Marshal David Phillips arrested several Democrats who allegedly belonged to the Knights, including men in respectable positions: Congressmen, state representatives, and judges. One was Circuit Judge Andrew Duff. They were sent to Washington, DC, where they were held for 68 days before release, but they were never charged. Democrats won across the state in the fall election.[7]

Cairo panoramic map, 1885. The city sits between two rivers, reminding early settlers of the Egyptian Delta.

After the war, other reasons were proposed for the nickname. Political divisions continued in the state. In the later 19th century, the central and southern agricultural areas joined the Populist Movement. Chicago and the industrial North aligned with similar areas and continued as predominantly Republican into the 20th century.[8]

In 1871 Judge Andrew Duff wrote an article in which he ignored the war years and preceding political divisions. He claimed the name of Egypt related to Southern Illinois' role in supplying grain to northern and central Illinois following the "Winter of the Deep Snow" in 1830–31. Following a long winter and late spring, Upper Illinois lost much of its harvest in an early September frost. Southern Illinois's weather gave it good crops, so it could ship grain and corn north. The nickname supposedly arose from similarities of the events to the well-known Bible story of Jacob's sons going to Egypt for grain to survive a famine.[10]

One of the earliest uses of the phrase "Little Egypt" is found in the Troy Weekly Call of Troy, Illinois, in 1912. A state news brief was headlined, "Two New Little Egypt Pastors." about two new Presbyterian pastors about to be installed at Brookport and Salem, Illinois.[11] The Chicago Tribune appears to have first used the phrase "Little Egypt" in reference to Southern Illinois on 25 April 1920 in an article about fruit grown in the region.[12] The title character in the comic strip "Moon Mullins" had a girlfriend named Little Egypt. The strip's creator Frank Willard, was a native of Anna and Southern Illinois.[13]

"Southern Illinois" is not a formal geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern Illinois vary. Many Southern Illinois residents consider an area between Interstate 70 and Interstate 64 as the dividing line between the Central and Southern parts of the state.[citation needed] The geography of Illinois becomes gradually hillier as one travels farther South. One can see this driving south along Interstate 57. The Mattoon/Charleston area is fairly flat. Terrain becomes noticeably less flat as one gets to Effingham, but it is still level enough to support the vast corn and soybean fields that are so common in the rest of Central Illinois. South of Effingham on the interstate, one sees more trees and terrain that is too hilly for most large farms.

Harrisburg skyline. Harrisburg prospered with one of the largest Southern Illinois downtown districts during the 1920s and had a population of nearly 16,000 people. Today it has a population of about 9,000.

The least populated region, Southeastern Illinois is marked by being within the Shawnee Hills and the Shawnee National Forest. The area includes many state parks such as Garden of the Gods Wilderness. The historic town of Shawneetown is located on the Ohio River which is the eastern border of the region. The northern reaches of Southeastern Illinois include the Harrisburg Coal field, which are roughly 200 square miles (500 km2) of abandoned coal mines dating to around the start of the 20th century near Harrisburg, Illinois, the largest city in the Southeastern Illinois area. The Saline River forks through the region as well.

Illinois has been partially covered at times by continental ice sheets. Specifically, Southern Illinois was only partially covered by continental ice sheet during the Illinoian Stage and not at all during the Wisconsin Stage. Thus, the geography of Southern Illinois is considerably more hilly and rocky than central or northern Illinois. Areas of Southern Illinois are more similar to the Ozarks than to central or northern Illinois.

Additionally, the rich farm land of northern and central Illinois is generally not found in Southern Illinois. Significant exceptions are the American Bottom along the Mississippi River and the alluvial soils of the Gulf Coastal Plain, a large region that has its northernmost extent in the two river valleys of Southern Illinois.

The region's other major river, the Ohio River, winds generally southwest, past Shawneetown, Cave-in-Rock, Elizabethtown, and Golconda. Its waters join the Mississippi at Cairo. In ancient times, the Ohio is thought to have flowed a more northerly course through Pope and Pulaski counties. It carved a broad valley there, fit for a major river. But today the underfit Bay Creek and Cache River occupy those valleys.

More than 270,000 acres (1100 km²) of Shawnee National Forest lie to the south of its gateway city Harrisburg. The Shawnee National Forest offers much to see and do. The national forest has 1,250 miles (2,010 km) of roadways, some 150 miles (240 km) of streams and frequent waterfalls, numerous ponds and lakes as large as 2,700 acres (11 km²) (some with swimming beaches), 13 campgrounds, many picnicking sites, and seven wilderness areas where trails are designed for hiking and horseback riding.[18]

Plant life is extremely diverse and ranges from sun-loving species to those that grow in dense shade. Tree cover dominates the publicly owned land, and is a significant component on privately owned lands. Oak-hickory is the predominant timber type, however, many other commercially important timber species also occupy significant land. More than 500 wildlife species can be found in the Forest, including 48 mammals, 237 birds, 52 reptiles, 57 amphibians, and 109 species of fish. There are seven federally listed threatened and endangered species that inhabit the Forest, as well as 33 species which are considered regionally sensitive, and 114 Forest-listed species.[19]

Southern Illinois lies on the border between humid continental climate (Köppen climate classificationDfa) and humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classificationCfa). The region has neither large mountains nor large bodies of water to moderate its temperature and, thus, it is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico and, along with the rest of the midwestern United States, is home to some of the largest temperature extremes in the world. The region has four distinct seasons. Spring is the wettest season and produces erratic severe weather ranging from tornadoes to winter storms. Summers are hot and humid with only occasional and brief respite, and the humidity often makes the heat index rise to temperatures feeling well above 100 °F (38 °C). Fall is mild with lower humidity and can produce intermittent bouts of heavy rainfall with the first snow flurries usually forming in late November. Winters are cold with periodic snow and temperatures often below freezing, however thaws are usually frequent. Winter storm systems, such as Alberta clippers and Panhandle hooks, can bring days of heavy freezing rain, ice pellets, and snowfall.

Despite the four distinct seasons, Southern Illinois supports a small amount of cold-hardy palm trees, that can be found sparingly throughout the region. These palms are among the northernmost naturally occurring palms within the continental United States, away from moderate climates provided by the coasts.

The normal high temperature in July is 90 °F (32 °C), and the normal low temperature in January is 21 °F (−6 °C), although this varies from year to year. Both 100 °F (37.8 °C) and 0 °F (−17.8 °C) temperatures can be seen on an average 2 or 3 days per year. The official record low is −23 °F (−31 °C) on February 2, 1884 in Harrisburg, and the record high is 117 °F (47 °C) on July 14, 1954 in East St. Louis.

Southern Illinois experiences thunderstorms about 50 days a year on average. Thunderstorms contribute over half of the annual precipitation. Especially in the spring, these storms can often be severe, with high winds, large hail and tornadoes. Southern Illinois has been affected on more than one occasion by particularly damaging tornadoes.

A period of warm weather late in autumn known as Indian summer can occur – roses will still be in bloom as late as November or early December in some years.

Southern Illinois at one time had an extensive network of railroads. Now only Amtrak, the U.S. passenger rail system, provides service to and through the area. Carbondale is served with three trains daily to and from Chicago, and one train daily to and from Memphis and New Orleans. Several trains each day run to and from Chicago and St. Louis, with Alton the major stop in Southern Illinois.

Southern Illinois has 4 major interstate freeways that connect with Missouri, Indiana, and Kentucky. Depending on the definition of Little Egypt's boundaries, there are four interstates in the region. I-57 is the main north-south freeway through Southern Illinois. It runs through the center of the area. South of Marion is the western terminus of I-24. It runs southeast, crossing into Paducah, Kentucky near Metropolis. South of its junction with I-24, I-57 bends to the southwest and crosses into Missouri near Illinois' southernmost point by Cairo. I-70 runs east-west from St. Louis to central Indiana. I-64 runs east-west from St. Louis to southern Indiana. It is cosigned with I-57 for a short stretch at Mt. Vernon. I-57 is responsible for much of the growth found around the city of Marion.

U.S. Route 51 roughly follows the Illinois Central Railroad line north-south through the middle of the entire state. Illinois Route 1 runs north-south along the eastern edge of Little Egypt; Illinois Route 3 parallels the Mississippi River along the western edge of the area.

Bridges and ferries are an important feature in the region, being it is surrounded on three sides by major rivers, the Ohio and Wabash rivers to the east and south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

Southern Illinois has historically been a conservative Democratic region. Even as the political parties have changed, Southern Illinois has consistently voted for Democratic candidates more times than not since 1818. Democratic roots in Southern Illinois relate to the region's shared culture with the South, where the Democratic Party before the American Civil War and after Reconstruction was dominant until the 1960s. Democratic affiliations were strengthened during the Great Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration.[28]

However within the last decades, Southern Illinois has trended GOP due to nationwide support for the GOP among rural areas. while Northern Illinois due to outward migration from Democratic-leaning Cook county has trended Democratic. Democratic candidates were competitive in the counties of Southern Illinois until 1996. By the Presidential Election of 2000. Democrats have under-performed in Southern Illinois despite winning Illinois consecutively.

In the early months of the Civil War, some residents in Williamson County voted for secession from the Union. On April 15, 1861 the citizens of Marion passed a resolution calling for the division of Illinois and the secession of Southern Illinois. The resolution was soon repealed, but General Benjamin Prentiss left a company of men near Marion for defense as he passed by on his way to a garrison in Cairo. Despite some southern sympathizers, most young men in the region joined the Union Army,[29]

There are two main centers of commerce for Southern Illinois. They consist of the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area (home to approximately 2.8 million people), and the Carbondale, Marion, Herrin, Harrisburg area (home to approximately 245,000 people).

The main agricultural products of Southern Illinois are crops such as corn and soybeans. Apples, peaches, grapes, are commonly found throughout Southern Illinois as well as the occasional sunflower, cotton, wheat, hay, and milo fields. In recent years there has been development of wineries in the Shawnee Hills region. Additional growth has occurred with the local foods movement as Southern Illinois' climate allows for fruit and vegetable production. Southern Illinois is also the home to aquaculture, beef, swine, equine, sheep, goats, and other livestock production. Agricultural efforts in the region are greatly aided by a small University of Illinois Extension research station near Dixon Springs and extensive research from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale's College of Agricultural Sciences. SIUC is home to the state's only non-land grant research-focused university with an agricultural college which provides practical research to the scientific and agricultural communities both in Southern Illinois as well as the rest of the state and the broader region.

Southern Illinois also has significant coal deposits; however, since the late 1980s, the coal industry has suffered significant decline due to the decreased demand for high sulfur coal, which causes more pollution. The collapse of the coal industry has had profound and lasting impact on the region's economy.

The Illinois oil basin is located mostly in Little Egypt. During the early 1940s and 1950s, Little Egypt had a modest oil boom in towns such as Carmi, McLeansboro, and Lawrenceville. Oil production reached more than 140,000,000 barrels (22,000,000 m3) per year in the 1940s, but dropped to 10,000,000 barrels (1,600,000 m3) per year by 1995. Oil wells in the region have relatively low yield and produce oil with a high sulfur content, making it expensive to process. There has been no significant drilling activity in the basin since the late 1970s.

Manufacturing in Southern Illinois is typically clustered in the largest towns of each county, with the people of smaller towns and villages often commuting to work in the factories. Many of these towns have a number of light factories and other industrial facilities in their industrial parks. Products include industrial electronics, minor electrical items, automobile parts, and packaging materials. Related services include large-scale printing as well as transportation and distribution of warehoused materials and goods. A high percentage of local jobs are in these light industries.

Culturally, Southern Illinois draws influences from the rest of Illinois but also from neighboring Missouri and Upper Southern states like Kentucky and Tennessee. The immigration route from the east coast ran along the Ohio River, which joined settlements on both sides. In addition, the Cumberland River flowed northwest through Kentucky and Tennessee before joining the Ohio near Paducah, Kentucky, affording a migration route from the interior of those states. Thus, settlers who came to Southern Illinois were from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, with most of these being of northern English and Scots-Irish descent, who formed the last major migration from the British Isles to the colonies before the Revolutionary War, and settled mostly in the backcountry. Some migrated further west into Missouri. A road between Golconda and Jonesboro carried settlers and commerce across Southern Illinois, as well as the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears.[30]

Little Egypt exists at the confluence of the North Midland and South Midland dialects of American English. South Midland becomes more prominent as one approaches the Ohio River. The dialect change is not a continuum, but rather occurs in pockets, with certain towns and regions notably favoring one dialect over the other. This difference can be found between lifelong residents of the same town. No stigma is associated to either dialect within southern Illinois. According to David Hackett Fischer in his book Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways to America, the dialect of this region is Southern Highland. It was derived from the linguistics of the people of the Southern Appalachian region. This is consistent with the majority of the early settlers of this region migrating from the Upper South. The older term for this type of dialect was "Scotch-Irish" speech (the correct term today is Scots-Irish.)[31]

Southern Illinois prides itself in tourism as a quaint rural area. There are many state parks in the area, benefiting from the scenery of the Shawnee National Forest. Also Southern Illinois is the oldest part of the state so there are many historical landmarks to be seen in the area, with numerous historical markers dotting the counties.[32][33]

Nolan, John Matthew "2,543 Days: A History of the Hotel at the Grand Rapids Dam on the Wabash River" Discusses Charles T. Hinde, one of the silent investors of the Hotel del Coronado and how the Hotel del Coronado influenced the Grand Rapids Hotel in Wabash County, Illinois.